Women Drop Semester Finale To Ohio State
December 14, 1999 | Women's Basketball
The Terriers' women's basketball players concluded their first semester schedule on Tuesday night (December 14th) with one of the toughest lessons they have learned thus far, bowing to Ohio State, 79-49, at the Buckeyes' Value City Arena.
The women saw their record drop to 2-5 overall and are off until the end of December when they travel to Wagner College.
"This was a learning experience for us tonight," said Terrier head coach Margaret McKeon. "I wanted our players to be exposed to an atmosphere of a top-25 program, and play a team that is the best it can be, and that's why I scheduled this game."
The Terriers were matched against a team that "was as athletic and quick a team as we have played this year," said the coach.
The result was the Terriers committed 34 turnovers.
"All year long, for nine games, we've turned the ball over 25 times a game, and tonight we had 34," said McKeon.
Of the total, 18 came in the first half as the Terriers trailed 39-25.
They never led in the game, although they kept it close throughout most of the first 20 minutes of action.
In fact, the game was tied four times in the opening 5:54 of play, the last being 8-8 with 14:06 to play in the half.
At that point, Ohio State's Jamie Lewis hit a three-point play to stake her team to a three-point lead, 11-8, with 13:23 to play in the half. By the end of the half, Lewis, who is coming back after knee surgery this past summer, was 5-of-5 from three-point range. Coupled with a pair of three throws, Lewis had 17 points in the half.
The Terriers actually shot better in the first half than the Buckeyes. B.U. connected on 9-of-18 from the field with Dia Dufault leading the way with eight points. In the meantime,Ohio State was 13-of-36 from the field for 36.1 percent. However, B.U. turned the ball over 18 times, compared to just six for the Buckeyes.
In the second half, B.U. continued its 50 percent shooting efficiency, hitting on 8-of-16, while OSU was 14-of-24 for 58.3 percent.
The highlight of the second half for the Terriers was the play of junior Alison Dixson. Held to six points on a 3-of-3 effort in the first half, Dixson was 7-of-8 in the second half to finished the game 10-of-11, along with 2-of-3 from the free-throw line for a game-high 22 points. She also led the way with 9 rebounds.
"Alison did a lot of things for us tonight," said McKeon. "She is a great post player, and she responded to the challenge tonight."
McKeon also had encouraging words about her freshman guard Alison Argentieri, who played all 40 minutes of the game and was the object of the Buckeyes' quck guards, as she committed 13 turnovers.
"Alison is an extremely strong player although she didn't show it tonight," said McKeon. "She will learn from tonight, and it won't happen to her again. This will prepare her for our conference games. It might not have shown it, but she did do some good things tonight, and I will be sure to tell her what they were."
The coach also had some good things to say about the Buckeyes.
"I think OSI is a program you will see in the Final Four in a few years," McKeon said of the Buckeyes, who have just one senior on the roster while there are five freshmen. "Take my word for it."
